Gunman wounds four at college Halloween party in Los Angeles

Thursday

Nov 1, 2012 at 12:01 AMNov 1, 2012 at 8:02 PM

LOS ANGELES - A gunman opened fire outside a large Halloween party at the University of Southern California and wounded four people in the second major shooting incident involving the school this year, police said today.

LOS ANGELES - A gunman opened fire outside a large Halloween party at the University of Southern California and wounded four people in the second major shooting incident involving the school this year, police said today.

The violence erupted late yesterday outside a student party at the Tutor Campus Center, the university said in a statement. It said none of the wounded were affiliated with the school.

An argument between two men at the party turned violent when one opened fire, shooting the other man and three bystanders, according to Captain David Carlisle, a spokesman for the university's Department of Public Safety.

The man targeted by the shooter was in critical condition and the other three people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening wounds, Carlisle said.

Police said two people were detained for questioning in connection with the shooting outside the party, which they said attracted a large crowd including many people from outside the campus.

The Los Angeles Times, citing law enforcement sources, identified the critically wounded man as Geno Hall, a former football star at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles who in 2009 was ranked by the newspaper as a top local player.

The violence came just over six months after two Chinese graduate students were shot and killed while sitting in a car a few blocks from the Los Angeles campus.

Those deaths were attributed by law enforcement to an attempted robbery gone wrong, and sparked a debate over whether the expensive private university provides adequate security measures in neighborhoods where many students live adjacent to the campus.

The shooting yesterday also came four years after University of Southern California sprinter Bryshon Nellum, who won a silver medal this year at the London Olympics, was shot in both legs at a Halloween party near campus.